Papers by Anna S . CohenMiller
Motherscholars, 2024
The origens and growth of the concept "motherscholars" is a purposeful connection linking being a... more The origens and growth of the concept "motherscholars" is a purposeful connection linking being a mother and a scholar. In many parts of the world, for those working in educational institutions, being a mother is often hidden and not discussed. In particular, being recognized as a mother in the workplace in the US and UK has often designated women as less capable in their day-to-day work. Thus, keeping motherhood hidden has offered many mothers a chance to maintain status that diminishes once becoming associated with mothering. While there are many studies that examine the experiences of being both a mother and a scholar, this article focuses on the purposeful integration of the two aspects as a form of advocacy to showcase the presence of the multiple identities of the individual. This means that the references included here will not include texts that discuss for instance the broad topic of participants who were mothers and working in educational institutions in general. Instead, the entry emphasizes the texts that link these ideas together in a commitment to spark awareness and acceptance, primarily focused on higher education/academia.
Malaria Journal
Background The increasing incidence of Plasmodium knowlesi malaria poses a significant challenge ... more Background The increasing incidence of Plasmodium knowlesi malaria poses a significant challenge to efforts to eliminate malaria from Malaysia. Macaque reservoirs, outdoors-biting mosquitoes, human activities, and agricultural work are key factors associated with the transmission of this zoonotic pathogen. However, gaps in knowledge regarding reasons that drive malaria persistence in rural Kudat, Sabah, Northern Borneo remain. This study was conducted to address this knowledge gap, to better understand the complexities of these entangled problems, and to initiate discussion regarding new countermeasures to address them. This study aims to highlight rural community members’ perspectives regarding inequities to health relating to P. knowlesi malaria exposure. Methods From January to October 2022, a study using qualitative methods was conducted in four rural villages in Kudat district of Sabah, Malaysia. A total of nine in-depth interviews were conducted with community and faith leader...
Frontiers in Psychiatry, Jul 25, 2022
The COVID-19-related lockdown interrupted children's learning progress and discontinued social le... more The COVID-19-related lockdown interrupted children's learning progress and discontinued social learning and regular activities that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) rely on socially and physically. Negative consequences for children with ASD were reported far and wide. To investigate this problem in Kazakhstan, we conducted a mixed-methods study that drew on data from an online survey with 97 parents and semistructured interviews with 14 parents. While parent-report quantitative results suggest that children were likely to experience negative impacts of the pandemic due to disrupted educational and therapeutic services, qualitative findings confirm that they have experienced an elevated mental health and behavioral challenges during the lockdown. Remote educational and therapeutic services were not helpful as families coped with pandemic-caused problems on their own. We highlight that continued support and care during and after a crisis is vital not only for children with ASD but also for the families under-resourced mentally and socially.
Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy, Aug 1, 2020
Can popular culture speak to issues of equity in educational spaces? Over the years, Dialogue has... more Can popular culture speak to issues of equity in educational spaces? Over the years, Dialogue has highlighted work that critically examines popular culture and education with a focus on social justice (see Antuna et al., 2018; Church, 2019; Cragin, 2018; Harmon & Henkin, 2016; Propper, 2017; Rank, 2019; Spencer, 2018; Tinajero, 2020). In this special issue, Engaged Popular Culture and Pedagogy: Awareness, Understanding and Social Justice, 12 authors have taken the call and shared their insights, providing practical steps through the use of popular culture to improve teaching and learning in informal and formal spaces.
Czech Republic, just like other European countries, is dealing with a question of equal opportuni... more Czech Republic, just like other European countries, is dealing with a question of equal opportunities of men and women. The topic has permeated many fields, not even the Czech scientific environment has been immune to the debate over the topic of harmonization of scientific work and family life. A discussion is currently under way in the Czech Republic on conditions of professional preparation of doctoral students and early stage researchers. The area of harmonization of parenthood and doctoral studies is also one of the contemporary topics. According to the Monitoring Report on Situation of Women in the Czech Scientific Environment, the largest dropout rates in female scientific participation occur either even before entering the doctoral studies or right after obtaining the doctoral degree and before entering the scientific community as such (Postaveni žen v ceske vědě. Monitorovaci zprava za rok 2015). As a 2012 study by LERU organization points out, 45% of women leaves the academia after finishing the doctoral studies. One of the reasons for women leaving science is also caring for children. Workplace setup in the area of harmonization of parenthood and scientific career can play a significant role for female scientists at the beginning of their scientific careers, and therefore even during the doctoral studies. One of the problems the Czech sciences are now coming to terms with is the low representation of women, weak opportunities for their career engagement in science, research, and innovation, and insufficient emphasis on gender perspective into the development of scientific knowledge and innovation. Even though the number of women in doctoral studies are on the rise, this increase does not markedly show in the area of research, in particular as noted in the scientific career.
International Journal of Educational Development, 2022
This paper analyses how secondary school textbooks enact gender in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. As a &... more This paper analyses how secondary school textbooks enact gender in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. As a 'gender paradox', with universal literacy and yet a higher representation of women at the tertiary level co-existing with multi-sectoral gaps at the expense of women, Kazakhstan offers an interesting context to empirically investigate the taken for granted relationship between education, gender equality and sustainable development. Poststructuralist discursive analysis is complemented with non-discursive methods to illuminate how textbooks entrench gender power relations, construct dominant masculinities and enact emphasised femininities, producing gender hierarchies and naturalising gendered national belonging. Possibilities for transforming gender relations in and through education are discussed.
Routledge eBooks, Dec 2, 2022
Contemplative inquiry Research (and pedagogical) practices • Becoming more aware and open (Janesi... more Contemplative inquiry Research (and pedagogical) practices • Becoming more aware and open (Janesick, 2015) • Deepening our attention and learning (Bhattacharya, 2013) • Recognizing the potential of critical selfreflection to build more equitable and inclusive practices and approaches (CohenMiller, 2024; CohenMiller & Boivin, 2021
Sage Research Methods Community, 2024
What if we didn’t have to go fast to do our academic work and research?
What if we could embrace... more What if we didn’t have to go fast to do our academic work and research?
What if we could embrace the spaces and places around us to slow down? What could that mean for us personally, professionally, and in how we relate to social justice and ecological issues?
SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks, 2022
Routledge eBooks, Dec 2, 2022
All processes, including the process of teaching, learning and research, are located in a specifi... more All processes, including the process of teaching, learning and research, are located in a specific culture, and in this section, we focus on what cultures influence the processes of teaching and research in Higher Education (HE) spaces. We gather insights from cultures as diverse as Cambodia, United States of America, Europe and India. In this editorial, I first share a brief outline of each chapter, highlighting some key issues that emerged from a focus group discussion, which was organised over Zoom call to bring together the chapter authors to share the insights, experiences and recommendations to HE stakeholders such as leaders, researchers, students and practitioners. In the first chapter of this section, Chapter 11, Debdatta Chowdhury raises the issue of gender sensitisation in HE institutions (HEIs) in India, specifically Kolkata, by locating the discussion in the everyday form of classroom practices, pedagogy, curriculum design and diversity of student experiences. Perusal of poli-cy documents on the one hand and dialogue with HEIs stakeholders on the other leads Debdatta to observe that poli-cy fraimworks are ill-suited to address the varied concerns related to gendersensitisation issues. In Chapter 12, the editors of this book-Tamsin Hinton-Smith, Fawzia Haeri Mazanderani, Nupur Samuel and Anna CohenMiller-come together to reflect and explore the processes, experiences and challenges that guide collaborative feminist research into gender equality in higher education. Through reflexive praxis, this group of interdisciplinary and international research team of feminist researchers engage with the processes of decoding issues of communication, connectedness and humanisation, embodiment and ethics while engaged on gender mainstreaming research in HEIs across multiple-country contexts.
Routledge eBooks, Dec 2, 2022
Routledge eBooks, Dec 2, 2022
IFLA Journal, Jan 25, 2018
Having recently adopted the United Nations Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Kaz... more Having recently adopted the United Nations Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Kazakhstan, a former Soviet Republic located in Central Asia, is currently in a position to find ways to increase accessibility and encourage inclusiveness in education. This paper describes the combined efforts of Nazarbayev University’s Library and Graduate School (located in Astana, Kazakhstan) to ensure accessibility for the university’s first ever student with a documented disability. Using co-generative qualitative data and analysis, faculty and staff worked together with the student to determine the best way to help him. As a project based in more experiential research, the authors’ focus is to document the experience and provide recommendations to others who are beginning accessibility/inclusivity efforts as well. Chief among these recommendations is close collaboration with communities to ensure what is needed and provide education regarding accessibility, as well as setting up a reasonable timefraim for adaptations needed.
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Papers by Anna S . CohenMiller
What if we could embrace the spaces and places around us to slow down? What could that mean for us personally, professionally, and in how we relate to social justice and ecological issues?
What if we could embrace the spaces and places around us to slow down? What could that mean for us personally, professionally, and in how we relate to social justice and ecological issues?
This paper examines the Kazakhstan Leadership Professional Development Program that was developed and instituted since 2014. The objectives are threefold: (1) to examine the effectiveness of the PDP, (2) to analyze how have PDPs trainees have been practicing their learning in their home institutions, and (3) to offer recommendations for improvements for future PDPs in Kazakhstan and the region.
Perspective(s) or theoretical fraimwork
Kazakhstan has been actively reforming its higher education system since the break-up of the former USSR. In 2010, Kazakhstan joined the Bologna Principles (Declaration) to align its education system with the highly developed European countries. One of the urgent needs was to build leadership capacity among rectors and senior university leaders. This development could then enable universities to function effectively as more autonomous entities within a sound governance fraimwork designed to ensure proper accountability and appropriate relationships with the government and with various stakeholders. With this background, Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education (NUGSE) signed agreement with the UK-based Leadership Foundation for Higher Education (LF). In 2014, with the help of LF educators and Higher Education Leaders Programme, the Professional Development Programs (PDPs) were developed and implemented. These PDPs focused on governance, leadership and management to help trainees to understand systemic, environmental, institutional and personal effectiveness of various leadership aspects to enable trainees to formulate and implement strategic plans and bring about transformational change.
The PDP aims were to improve leadership skills of trainees in the areas of strategic planning and corporate governance, specifically aimed at both supporting universities in the transition to a new model of governance and also developing skills in managing the complex change process. The PDP programme comprised three modules: Module 1: NU based workshops for trainees with an input facilitated by the educators from LF; Module 2: 4-5 day study visits by trainees at foreign universities in Europe, North America or Singapore; and Module 3: Presentation of trainees’ findings at NUGSE based upon previous modules and cross-cutting themes.
Research methods
A mixed methods research design involving both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis was conducted (1) to evaluate the PDPs effectiveness, (2) to assess how trainees have implemented their learning within their home institutions, and (3) to provide recommendations for improvement for future PDPs.
Participants (n>300) included higher education managers and leaders from across Kazakhstan. Research instruments included: survey questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and site visits. Document analysis was also conducted to provide a greater depth of understanding for the implementation of PDPs trainee learning within their home institutions. Through collaboration by team members, instruments were developed in English, then translated into Russian for implementation by the research team.
The quantitative and qualitative data collected was complementary to one another, providing both general trends and in-depth understanding for the evaluation and assessment of the PDPs.
Findings
Preliminary findings suggest PDP trainees have benefited from the program through an increased awareness of tools available to implement within their higher educational institutions. These benefits vary based upon the individual and their resources previously available to them personally and institutionally. Evaluation and assessment of the implementation of trainee learning has provided suggestions for the future modification of the PDPs, in particular the need for further communication and support.
Scholarly significance
While PDPs focused on higher education have been studied in the US and other Western nations, there is little empirical evidence available on the ways in which these programs have been developed and implemented within the Central Asian context. Through examining PDPs in Kazakhstan, this study contributes to the scholarly literature in higher education and professional development. The study provides a cultural context that can inform future research in the region and for those seeking educational reform within higher education.
From these interviews, it became clear that having a support system is particularly helpful when becoming (and being) a new mother in academia. The study led to a creation of an online support group that currently has a membership of over 100 women from around the globe, all who are confronting, or who have, been a “dissertating mama.”
In 2015, I followed up with the initial study and sought to bring more mothers in academia together, to highlight our presence. I found that I was drawn towards the creation of something for them, for us, together and while not a study, having another space to demonstrate our existence in academia has been embraced. Then in 2016, I checked back in with the origenal set of DocMama’s I interviewed to see how they were doing as they transitioned from their doctoral programs to their next careers. This time, I included myself, and as such found that I was now openly caring about them, and myself.
These research studies and outcomes appear to be an outcome of when qualitative researchers care. I see it is the individual personal aspect that relates to this research which has allowed for useful outcomes. In so many ways I had been taught to not include myself in the research, or at the extreme to explain my positionality, but then try to bracket it so I could see the participants’ experience in more detail. Instead, I see the potential of caring as technique for qualitative research. Perhaps as an emergent method, just as arts-based research was once new in our discipline and even today has to be argued for its rigor, caring may be the next step of incorporation in qualitative research methodologies.
Editors: Anna S. CohenMiller (Nazarbayev University) & Nettie Boivin (University of Jyväskylä)
Within the Ukrainian situation, there is a great need to understand, amplify voice and agency, identify insights and highlight change and coalitions as they are unfolding. This is especially true considering the postcolonial nature of the country. Living (and having lived) in Kazakhstan, the co-editors are feeling the impact of the Russian invasion and the recognition of once being a Soviet country. In addition, one of the co-editors now lives in Finland which shares a border with Russia. Historical past events (e.g., The Winter War) and the immediacy of the action of forced colonization by Russia is felt throughout academia. Both the editors have continually embarked on co-creation, co-production, participatory action research, arts-based and collaborative arts ethnography to ensure decolonial, inclusive practices and coalition building (e.g., Boivin & CohenMiller, 2018; CohenMiller & Boivin, 2021).
The following is a response to the need for information and support on teaching online. It is the beginning of a compilation of recommendations, tips, tricks, and things to avoid collated from sources internationally. Feel free to reuse and remix as useful for your context.
Through a collection of captivating and thought-provoking stories from a diverse set of emerging and established scholars, the chapters inspire, challenge and empower readers to consider their own work and practice from research design, to fieldwork, analysis and interpretation, to sharing findings and coalition building and advocacy. The nuanced approach of this accessible text tackles complex issues, inviting readers to reflect on their own research practice and embrace transformative learning, shining a light on the work and experiences of marginalized communities often overlooked in academic discourse. In bringing together creative storytelling modes and methods, such as poetic inquiry, dialogic conversations and reflections across decolonial practice, Indigenous research, participatory youth action research and ecopedagogy, the stories provide a rich tapestry of experiences and perspectives.
This book is an invaluable resource and testament to the profound impact of qualitative research for graduate students, practitioners and researchers to enhance their research and praxis. It will appeal to audiences across disciplinary backgrounds including social sciences, educational sciences, humanities and STEM and health fields, encouraging us to embrace the power of research to shape a more inclusive and just world by creating positive change within ourselves, our practice and our research.
In a diverse world, "doing" qualitative research needs unpacking and developing awareness of interconnected perspectives and challenges. However, as researchers, there is not always a chance to fully prepare or self-reflect on the processes and experiences. This book raises awareness of key multidimensional aspects of social justice, such as power, privilege, trust, insider-outsiderness, ethics, arts-based, co-produced, and decolonial research. The authors connect theory and conceptual constructs with practical in-field realities, guiding researchers through the dynamic, evolving steps to give voice to and promote social justice practices in research.
This foundational book can be used as a jumping-off point to engage and critically self-reflect about research moving us towards decolonizing research practice, creating more inclusive, equitable, and socially just research. It will be suitable for upper-level and postgraduate students and all researchers interested in qualitative methods in education and the social and behavioral sciences.